Battle of the Philippine Sea

Battle of the Philippine Sea
Part of the Pacific War of World War II
The carrier Zuikaku (center) and two destroyers under attack by U.S. Navy carrier aircraft, June 20, 1944
Date June 19–20, 1944 Location The Philippine Sea Result American victory
Belligerents
United States	Empire of Japan
Commanders and leaders
Raymond A. Spruance Marc A. Mitscher	Jisaburō Ozawa Kakuji Kakuta
Strength
129 warships: 7 fleet carriers 8 light fleet carriers 7 battleships 8 heavy cruisers 13 light cruisers 58 destroyers 28 submarines 956 carrier aircraft	90 warships: 5 fleet carriers 4 light carriers 5 battleships 13 heavy cruisers 6 light cruisers 27 destroyers 24 submarines 6 oilers ~450 carrier aircraft ~300 land-based aircraft
Casualties and losses
1 battleship damaged 123 aircraft destroyed 109 dead	3 fleet carriers sunk (Taihō,Shōkaku, Hiyō) 2 oilers sunk 550–645 aircraft destroyed 6 other ships damaged 2,987 dead (estimate)

The Battle of the Philippine Sea (June 19–20, 1944) was a major naval battle of World War II that eliminated the Imperial Japanese Navy's ability to conduct large-scale carrier actions. It took place during the United States' amphibious invasion of the Mariana Islands during the Pacific War. The battle was the last of five major "carrier-versus-carrier" engagements between American and Japanese naval forces, and pitted elements of the United States Navy's Fifth Fleet against ships and aircraft of the Imperial Japanese Navy's Mobile Fleet and nearby island garrisons.

The aerial part of the battle was nicknamed the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot by American aviators for the severely disproportional loss ratio inflicted upon Japanese aircraft by American pilots and anti-aircraft gunners. During a debriefing after the first two air battles a pilot from USS Lexington remarked "Why, hell, it was just like an old-time turkey shoot down home!" The outcome is generally attributed to American improvements in pilot and crew training and tactics, technology (including the top-secret anti-aircraft proximity fuze), and ship and aircraft design. Although at the time the battle appeared to be a missed opportunity to destroy the Japanese fleet, the Imperial Japanese Navy had lost the bulk of its carrier air strength and would never recover. During the course of the battle, American submarines torpedoed and sank two of the largest Japanese fleet carriers taking part in the battle.

This was the largest carrier-to-carrier battle in history.

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto was killed on April 18, 1943. The following day, Admiral Mineichi Koga succeeded Yamamoto as Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet. Koga wanted the Imperial Japanese Navy to engage the American fleet in a single decisive battle in early 1944.

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